Playing with educational toys, particularly reconfigurable toys, aids in developing a child's ability to think, focus, and appreciate the value of patience and creativity. Equally importantly, children and adults alike enjoy playing with character-shaped toys and reconfiguring toys between various configurations. Configuring and reconfiguring characters and other shapes provokes the imagination of the user and yields great play value. Furthermore, character-shaped toys are great tools for enabling children to learn animal names, body parts, and other characteristics.
It is also well recognized that owning and wearing jewelry, which is normally a very different matter from playing with toys, is enjoyable to individuals of all ages. Wearing jewelry accessorizes the appearance of the wearer and can improve one's appreciation for the artistic value of various types of jewelry.
The present inventors, being aware of the foregoing, appreciated that jewelry would be enhanced educationally and would be rendered still more enjoyable to children and even adults if the jewelry could be mutually transformable between a character-shaped toy and an article of jewelry, such as a necklace, bracelet, or anklet. A person using his or her hands to accomplish such a transformation from a character-shaped toy to an article of jewelry can develop fine motor skills. Moreover, reconfiguring articles between jewelry and character-shaped configurations can improve the user's understanding of structural relationships between movable components.
It is recognized that numerous reconfigurable structures have been disclosed by the prior art, including by one of the present inventors. The inventors' particular knowledge in the field of reconfigurable articles has accentuated that the need remains for improved structures that can be reconfigured between a first configuration, such as a first, in-line configuration that could be used as a bracelet, necklace, or other article, and a second configuration, such as a configuration simulative of an animal, person, or other structure.
By way of example and not limitation, the art would be advanced by such a reconfigurable structure that is easily reconfigured between the first and second configurations while stably maintaining the configurations against inadvertent dislodging. Moreover, there is a need for a reconfigurable article that, when in the second configuration simulative of an animal, person, or other structure, can be readily posed to various positions for the entertainment and enjoyment of the user. Still further, there is a known need in the art for a reconfigurable article that, when in the second configuration simulative of an animal, person, or other structure, accurately simulates the shape of the intended creature or other structure.